Guyana on the Mohawk.(Capitaland Report)

Byline: CATHY WOODRUFF Staff Writer

SCHENECTADY - If it was affordable housing and family ties that first sparked an influx of Guyanese into the Electric City, it is jobs with welcoming employers that sustain the trend.

In workplaces throughout Schenectady, from factories to health care facilities, Guyanese employees - those who hail originally from the rural nation in northern South America - are making their mark.

Employers say they are delighted with the new pool of workers, and several Guyanese employees said in interviews that they like the opportunities they are finding here.

"What I like is that they let you build skills, and then they move you," Savitri Mahabeer, 41, said of her supervisors at St. Clare's Hospital. She joined the housekeeping staff shortly after moving here five years ago and now is a nursing assistant in the outpatient surgery unit. …